Showing The Way ... Hail Russia!

"We showed the way to the people of southern and eastern Ukraine ... They asked for our help with the fascists. Tonight marks the beginning of our war against fascism. We saved ourselves from them and our grandfathers would be proud."

Celebrations in Lenin Square, Simferopol, Ukraine, after polls closed in the Crimean referendum, March 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Thus spoke a succession of speakers to address the estimated ten thousand people who had gathered to celebrate their voting victory, in Sevastopol's main square. Chants of "!hurrah!", and "Russ-i-ya!" resounded from countless lips across the square. Even with just half the ballots counted at that juncture on Sunday, over 95% of them approved of splitting Crimea from Ukraine and joining Russia, according to Mikhail Malishev, head of the referendum committee.

It was never under a cloud of worrisome doubt that the Russian side in the issue would win the referendum, and by a very large margin. Still, few of those assembled thought there was anything remarkable of the claimed 95% advantage for those wanting to break Crimea away from Ukraine to favour union with Russia. "Come on. That's the kind of thing that they always told (us) whenever we voted in the Soviet Union", scoffed one man in his 60s who had voted not to secede.

The population in fact was channelled into the vote, fed hysterical conspiracy theories and invaded by Russian Federation troops to create a further aura of apprehension and division. With one week to discuss among themselves how they viewed the best future for Crimea and that the referendum was called once Russian troops had massed on the border and war games had increased feverish fears and expectations, that was quite the orchestration of events.

Many Ukrainians decided to boycott the referendum, and simply failed to turn out. Both because they felt it had no credibility since it was clearly unlawful, and also because they feared being the target of violence by rabid pro-Russian groups. Tatars held themselves apart from the proceedings, their distaste at the very thought of being ruled by Russia, a country that once deported them en masse from their native geography so that Russians could take possession of what was once theirs, utterly unpalatable.

Artists of the Russian Black Sea fleet dance and music groups perform for pro-Russian Crimeans celebrating in Lenin Square, in Simferopol, Ukraine, Sunday, March 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Max Vetrov)

But those Crimeans, clearly in the majority, whose wish it was to live under Vladimir Putin, considering him a hero writ large, began their wild celebrations even before the referendum vote was set to take place. And they celebrated during the twelve hours of the Sunday ballot when patriotic music of the Soviet era blared from loudspeakers once the polls opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Cars sporting Russian colours waving from their windows careened around the streets of Sevastopol, their horns honking madly.

"This day should become a national holiday. Sevastopol and Crimea are children of Russia. They could never choose the West because Russia is their mother", said a leader of a pro-Moscow Night Wolves biker gang as they performed a victory lap with brass knuckle gloves on bike handlebars, Russian pennants streaming behind them.

"None of us cares what the West thinks. Vladimir Putin is the greatest person of our time. Russia is a great nation. It always has been", acclaimed Alexei Terentiev, following behind the bikers, speaking for the Russian television crews.

"This is a beautiful day that we have waited for a very long time and we thank Putin for it. We were part of Ukraine for some years but we always remained a Russian city. Nobody made us vote for this. It is just something that we have wanted. After seeing what the fascists did in Kyiv a few weeks ago, we could not stay with Ukraine", explained Olga Voloshanovskaya.

Her husband, Vladimir, had his own view of events ... "That Crimea became Ukrainian was the mistake of Nikita Khruschev back in 1954. He made this gift because of the guilt he felt at how badly Ukraine had been repressed by Moscow. But it was never ratified by CCCP (Soviet Union) or agreed to by the people here."